I tuned a Hyundai last month. I have no way of knowing how the tension on the bass strings compares to other pianos, but I had to pull the extension lever out on the tuning hammer just to get the pin to turn on the bass strings. My first thought was that the pins were just Baldwin-tight, but when I inadvertently pulled one of the strings too sharp, I was amazed at how easily the pin turned in the opposite direction. It seemed to be the string tension which made it so very difficult to turn the pins. Conversely, the Sagenhatt I recently tuned had easily turnable pins, but you had to turn and turn to get the pitch to change. It started in the bichords. I put the hammer on the pin and turned the usual amount and nothing happened. I turned slightly again and when nothing happened I figured I had the hammer on the wrong pin. But no. So I let down the tension, fearing that the string was bound at the Vbar or something. Then I pulled it sharp again, and I had to just keep turning and turning until it finally got up to pitch. Without exaggeration, I turned each pin about 90 degrees in the bichord register, and this piano was not very flat, maybe 15 cents. It was weird. I haven't been at it as long as most of you, but this was radically different from any other piano I've ever tuned. Anyone care to offer a possible explanation for this? Tom Sivak
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC